And the Winner Is...

Miranda's class had a fall party right before Halloween. They learned all about pumpkins that week, so everyone was supposed to bring food that was either made from pumpkin or flavored like it. We chose pumpkin donuts! I have never in my life had a pumpkin donut and neither had Miranda so we had no idea if they were even any good. I decided to make it into a little adventure, so we took the two weeks before we had to get them to try three different donut places to see who had the best flavored ones, and the winner would be where we bought them from for her class! :)

We live closest to Howard's Donuts and Dunkin Donuts, so we tried these two first.

HOWARD'S: They were big crullers. Soft, and yummy, a little spice to them. Miranda liked them, but they are still not her thing, lol, I thought they were yummy. Loren didn't like them at all, but Homma agreed with me.

DUNKIN DONUTS: Regular round donuts, and the verdict was unanimous!!! NASTY! My mom and I decided the best word to describe the taste would be kerosene! Never again!

So far Howard's donuts was definitely in the lead!

But then...we tried our absolute favorite donut place in Memphis...Gibson's Donuts!!

GIBSON'S: While they had two pumpkin spice donuts to offer, they were the same, just one had orange colored icing and one didn't. They were smaller than Howard's, but definitely better tasting! Miranda decided it would be the iced pumpkin spice donuts from Gibson's that she would have at her fall party!

All of these donut places were priced the same, the trick was getting to Gibson's across town and back this way in time to get her to class. Gibson's is opened 24/7, which is extremely convenient, so we placed our order for two dozen iced pumpkin spice donuts and headed out early. There was a VERY long line! I'm telling you they are the best in town! The ladies there are so nice and helpful. We got an extra dozen of half glazed, half chocolate for the ladies in Miranda's school's office and each got a donut of our own for breakfast. Two caramel for the girls, YUM, and one chocolate eclair for mommy, haha!

This was definitely one of our favorite taste testing adventures!

And they were a hit at her school as well. (We were only 15 minutes late, but it was definitely worth the drive!)

Some of our other taste test adventure winners:

Sno cones of course, the winner was Jerry's Sno Cones in Memphis, can't be beat! If only Sno Cream Castle were still around to compare. I tried Stinkerbell's in Bartlett, but it was just ice chips with syrup, not at all what I was looking for, once I tried Jerry's, I was done with my search.

Yogurt places, with so many popping up everywhere, Cool Bliss Frozen Yogurt in Cordova was by far our favorite. (Loved the pomegranate and mango yogurt, very friendly staff, and very cool seating for the kids.)

We have tried:

Yogurt Mountain (our second favorite),

Sweet CeCe's (way too much going on),

Gracie Bleau in Germantown (very cute and kid friendly, kids have their own little area),

TCBY (just can't compete with the new places),

YoLo (way too boring for us)

However, every time I turn around there seems to be a new one popping up somewhere or one I haven't seen yet, here are some we have yet to try:

Dream Berry Frozen Yogurt downtown and Berry Berry Good Frozen Yogurt in the Avenue Carriage Crossing Mall. (This used to be Ben & Jerry's)

We will definitely need to try these soon.

Cupcakes we tried:

The Curious Gourmet Cafe and Cupcakery in Franklin, TN is what started all these taste testing adventures, almost three years ago. I was determined to find something similar to this when we got back to Memphis.

So as soon as we got back I tried Muddy's Bake Shop, everyone said how amazing they were and at the time, they were the only place in town you could get cupcakes at a shop.

I was very disappointed. Small, and there just was NO comparison to the cupcake shop in Franklin. Not long after, a new place opened up, Gigi's Cupcakes!! I was beyond excited, not only were they almost just as big as the ones in Franklin, but they packed as much flavor! Well, almost! Still not the same, but much, much closer to what I was looking for.

Then I found Cupcake Cutie in Bartlett, TN. This place is similar to the new yogurt shops in that you create your own cupcake. VERY fun for the girls, they loved it. While they were good cupcakes, I am looking for something more, you can only get basic flavors here and then you choose your toppings, not really my thing. Again, the girls loved it though!!

Finally I stumbled upon L'Oven Cupcakes in Southaven, MS. Regular sized cupcakes, but they pack the MOST flavor!! I have only been able to make it back once, but took my sis and she agreed, DELICIOUS!!!

While none of them compared to the ones on Franklin, my top pick is L'Oven Cupcakes. You should try them out for yourself, you won't regret it, and they are very affordable, cheaper than all the others.

Hope you've enjoyed our little taste testing adventures...we will keep you posted on our future ones as well! :) This has been so fun to do with my girls, they love it, and it has helped me with Miranda's very picky eating habits. She is now more willing to try new things thanks to our little adventures!

Memories!!

My parents help me out with the girls SO much! I thank God for them every day! They put up with a lot from us, especially my dad! The poor man is surrounded by three women and two girls, not to mention the three dogs and two cats!!! Our house is definitely crazy, but full of love!

On this particular night, the girls decided they wanted Poppi to do their hair, and since they already have this man wrapped around their finger, he did it without hesitation. So sweet! :)

...on another note

Miranda made Principal's Honor Roll!!! My second grader is so very, very smart! I am very proud of her, she is such a very hard worker! And she is very proud of herself as well!

Time for Fall Boots!

My favorite season by far, is fall! My favorite part of a fall wardrobe...knee-high boots. EVERY girl, young and old should own a pair! My sweet girls love them as much as I do! Look how precious!!!

Recap 2 (Post Hair Cut)...

Oy Vey! I so did these pics in reverse...oh well, I am too tired to deal with it! So just know this all happened in reverse, lol!

These girls live in their ballet attire! So much so that they even want to wear them to answer the door and pass out candy for Halloween!

Yes, this year they are going to do Halloween with their dad, so we are going to relax at home and pass out candy. I think it will be fun for them, they have never been on the other side of the treats!! This was our recent trip to the new Sweet CeCe's in Cordova, next to Bonefish. We have been to the one in East Memphis next to Chili's a couple of times, but Loren's daycare handed out fliers for the grand opening saying free yogurt!!! Can't resist if it's free! And thank God it was! These girls are heifers, and as much as I try to monitor their quantities, these type of yogurt shops make that really hard to do!

I snapped a pic of Miranda, below in her new outfit so Miss Loren wanted a pic too! Such a ham!
Now, this is one of the new outfits Miranda picked out at Target. I got her these cute little black ballet style flats at Payless to go with it for now, but I just can't wait to get some of those cute, black, boots for her to wear with this! How stinking cute will that be!! BOOTS or THESE.
Okay, I could go on and on, but you get the picture. I am a firm believer that every girl, young and old should have a good pair of knee-high boots! LOL

Miranda had a science project recently on animals. She had to pick an animal and do a shoe box habitat and short speech on it.

She chose deer! We have yet to find out how she did and it's driving me crazy, you see Miranda was the only student in her class to do one the way she did.

My mother suggested we do a peephole diorama. It was so much fun. You put a hole in the side of the shoe box, arrange your habitat, facing the peephole, then cut a hole in the top and we put tissue paper over the hole. When you hold it up and look through the peephole it looks so neat!

After the girls got their hair cut I took them over to a new yogurt shop that we had been waiting very IMpatiently to open. It's Cool Bliss Yogurt in Cordova. By far my absolute favorite one we've been to. I got pomegranate and mango yogurt, LOVE! Even their seating was neat! You have to check them out for yourself to see what I mean! They have happy hour from 5-6, M-F and we will definitely be going back again!

Finally! We get to the hair part, lol. Miranda had really bad split ends, which is the whole reason we went to Sweet and Sassy in the first place. Miranda, however, refuses to let me cut her hair. She used to want to let it grow out like The Little Mermaid, but now I believe it is that long, and she has decided she wants it as long as Rapunzel from Tangled! Ummmm...NO! Momma can't deal with all that! So we will just let it stay this length, lol. She asked for bangs, I told her they would drive her crazy so we went for side swept as a compromise. Guess what...she hates them, they drive her crazy! (I hated telling her I told you so...nah, not really!)

Loren was just along for a trim as well, but her hair is so hard to handle and she constantly gets food in it! I have never seen anything like it in my life! So we decided, after a lot of discussion, to go with a cute inverted bob again. And while the girl did not do what I wanted at all, it is still adorable! So sassy!

I decided after this last visit to Sweet and Sassy that since they are not going to do what I ask anyway I am going to start taking them to Supercuts or Fantastic Sams again! Why not?! It's a whole lot cheaper! I'll just buy my own cotton candy hair spray for afterward, that's what they really like about it anyway, lol!

This past weekend we made an impromptu trip to the Avenue Carriage Crossing mall in Collierville. Thanks to East Memphis Moms blog, I found out last minute that they were playing Tangled on the square there. I was so excited to surprise the girls. (Love her blog btw and I follow her on fb. She lists all the events in and around town!)

Anyways, I didn't tell them a thing. We got there on time, very surprising for me! Unfortunately you need to get there early to get a good spot on the grass. We also didn't come prepared. Almost everyone brought camping chairs or blankets and food and drinks! They paint faces, give out candy, give out bubbles, etc. Then have a drawing for prizes before the start the movie on a big screen. The girls absolutely LOVED it!

Afterward we went to Mellow Mushroom, my favorite pizza place. The kids meals were all natural and very pricey! So we opted for a small pizza, four slices, with half Hawaiian and half sausage. The girls devoured it and we just danced to all the good music while in our booth and were silly and colored and chatted, so much fun! A wonderful night!

Saturday we tried going to the Shelby Farms Playground, but it was so very hot out that I didn't last long and the girls were covered in sand and declared they are over that playground, lol!

We decided to stop by my cousin's house again for the girls to play for a bit and then headed home so we could prepare for our chore chart reward! The girls did there chores so well all week that they got to rent a dvd from the Redbox. We had our movie and popcorn and my aunt Traci brought my cousin Katie's baby, Alyssa, over for us to finally meet. She was too cute and the girls both wanted to hold her. Of course once she started fussing Loren didn't want anything to do with her for the rest of the night and Miranda was upset, her feelings were so hurt because Alyssa cried every time Miranda tried to hold her. lol!

Sunday we went to church, we seriously attend an amazing church. Loren loves going and even gets onto me, "Mommy, we are going to be late if we don't go now!" Miranda said it was too loud in the Junior Life class so we quit going briefly and tried another church, but I was bored out of my mind by it and not feeling it!! Then I tried the other location of our church and while the same, I really like the friends I've made at our location we have been attending for almost two years. So Sunday we were back at our church home! I decided Miranda could just sit with me in the adult service. Miranda really liked going in with me and I, as usual was completely moved by the service! I learn so much when I attend church here that I know it's right for me! So Miranda will just keep going with me to the adult service, and she is very excited about this!

So much more I could update about but I am exhausted! Off to clean this house now! More posts to come soon! :)

Recap (before haircuts)...

For some strange reason blogger is not allowing me to comment on my own posts, so until I figure it out please know I do try to comment, but it just isn't happening. :(

Loren always has a nappy head! On this particular day she put her hair up herself! lol, she has naturally wavy hair and her momma just doesn't know how to handle it. So this blog post is of things that happened before the new 'do. ;)

And, this would be Loren putting on Nanie's (my sis Janie) high heels in the back seat! I so dread the teenage years!
And yes, I still have NOT blogged about our Florida trip we took with my parents and grandmother (Nonnie) the last week of August, but I am trying my best to play catch up and will soon! Here is a pic of my mom, Nonnie and Loren before my Nonnie left to return to Cali! Pretty ladies!

And this is a pic of a little yellow birdy that landed outside of Loren's bedroom window. Ever since my mom planted these flowers we have gotten lots of beautiful butterflies and these little birds, we love it!

Recently it cooled down enough for us to enjoy an invite from my cousin Amanda to come over for a bonfire, 'smores, and some fun!

My cousin has two girls too that are the same ages, and their personalities are all so similar it's crazy! The girls had so much fun!

Loren will be five in December, is sassy and such a prissy tomboy, go figure!

Aubrey is pretty much the same as far as I can tell. She will be five in the spring.

Recently I had to start Loren in daycare and she and Aubrey are in the same class! I am so glad for this. Loren has NEVER attended daycare. She has attended MDO for a year and recently I was using Kid Station like crazy. (It's a drop-in play center.)

Thank God, My Housekeeper , my sister's business, is starting to get a lot more business and because of that, I have no choice but to put her into daycare. I have never agreed with daycare, but I feel better about it now that she is so much older and I know they will help prepare her for Kindergarten next year. Loren seems to really enjoy it too! Yay!

This is Grace, she is six and she and Miranda are a lot alike as well! It's funny watching them all together. I hope we have many more 'smores dates in the future!

Miranda! That girl, lol...she only eats the marshmallows and chocolate, she hates graham crackers!

We also went to visit one of my favorite couples!!! I clean for him and his wife and they begged me to bring the girls to visit. They are an amazingly, sweet, Christian couple! I look around at all of their pictures as I'm cleaning and he still looks at her today the same way he did when they were "courting". They have been married 60+ years and are so funny!

They just adore me and Janie and treat us like part of the family! He calls his wife "Dutchie" and she was recently diagnosed with malignant cancer. She started chemo and radiation, but it made her so much worse, so she just put it in God's hands and quit getting treatments. It is amazing how much better she is doing since she stopped treatment! She said they have lived a full and amazing life and have been truly blessed by God. They always ask how my girls are doing and chat with me about church and old black and white movies which I love!

The girls really enjoyed meeting them and were very well behaved, thank God! lol :)

The Tooth Fairy...

Has bumped her head!!!!

First, a couple weeks ago I got a phone call from Miranda's school nurse saying that a little boy accidentally ran into Miranda and his shoulder hit her tooth so hard it was loose!

She said Miranda was very calm about it and seemed fine. I explained it was because this was probably the fourth tooth this child has knocked out of her own head. Seriously!

So after lots of complaining yesterday that it was getting really loose and bugging her...

Miranda woke me up at 2:45 a.m. last night excited because she had finally lost the tooth. (*Correction* the tooth had fallen out, as Miranda said, she didn't lose it, or it would be gone. lol)

I was so out of it all I could say was, "Oh yay! Well, the tooth fairy already did her rounds, so we will have to put it under your pillow tomorrow night for her."

I was half asleep people! ;)

It has been a while since Miranda lost a tooth, but I do vaguely remember giving her $5 last time?! I thought, it must have been because I thought she had swallowed her tooth and remember telling her the tooth fairy gave her extra for swallowing it??!!

So I asked this afternoon, "How much do you think the tooth fairy is going to leave you?"

Miranda: "Five dollars!"

Me: "Ummm...lol, that's a lot of money! How much did she leave you last time?"

Miranda: "Six dollars! She gave me an extra dollar for swallowing it!"

Me: "Well, you didn't actually swallow it, remember we found it under the couch later...so technically you owe the tooth fairy some money!"

Miranda: Honestly didn't say a word, but I looked in my rear view mirror and how I wish I could have taken a picture!!! Her mouth was WIDE open thinking about this! She didn't know what to say!

Me: "And the economy is not doing so well you know, the tooth fairy may not be able to leave as much as she used to!"

LOL! I know I'm awful, but why on earth was I leaving a child $5/tooth!? I have most certainly bumped my head!

So after LOTS of thought...

The tooth fairy left a $1 bill in Miranda's tooth pillow. I believe that is more than reasonable for a tooth!

And lesson learned...that trouble starting tooth fairy will not be leaving any $5 bills in Loren's pillow! Nope, Not starting that again! These girls have a lot of teeth left to lose!

Chore Chart Day 1

I decided it was time to do a chore chart. I am sick and tired of sounding like a broken record every single day and butting heads with my girls! I'm sure a lot of parents can relate.

So I got an idea in my head of what I was looking for, headed to Michael's and left completely defeated. I don't have a crafty bone in my body...wish I did, but it's just not me, so I was completely lost in there and overwhelmed.

My mom and I had to make a trip to Target, so I figured why not see if they had anything I might be able to use. I still wasn't seeing much, but then...

I found this!!! :)

I was so excited that it was such a great price and exactly what I was looking for that I said excitedly, out loud, "Oh! Thank you Target! Thank you!!" LOL

My mother said she was officially embarrassed, haha!

I didn't exactly use it the way it says. I wrote on the sides the chores they are to do as follows:

Put toys away

Make bed

Put up clothes

Dinner dishes

Brush teeth morning and night

Lay out school clothes

These are the things I battle them on daily! Loren wanted red magnetic stars and Miranda wanted the blue ones. So they get a star for each chore they do on each day of the week. At the end of this week if they get all their stars I will let them each pick a DVD from Redbox. That will cost me $2, yay! They are so excited about this that they got home from their dad's at 5pm yesterday, ate dinner and got all their chores done by 6pm!!! WOW! I was very proud and excited! lol, I just pray it lasts!

Now, I did consider all the possible rewards for their chores, an allowance, $2/week? $5/week? etc. I even read another blog that said she doesn't give allowance for chores because they are expected to be done, but she does for their behavior. Well, I think my girls are very well behaved for the most part, but not a day goes by they don't get into it so they would NEVER get an allowance, lol!

I do think they should do their chores without expecting something, but it's just not working in our home. And $5/week sounded good, but then I started adding up how much that would cost me monthly, and as a single mom, I just can't afford that! Nope, not gonna happen. So then I figured $2/week was doable, but then I realized my girls don't really care about money, they don't even take care of the money they do have. So I opted for this system instead: If they get all their stars they get a treat of some sort. This week the dvd rental, next week may be a sundae at McDonald's, the following week a toy from the dollar store each...and so on. If at the end of the month they have done all their chores consistently then I will take them for some fun!

They love this idea and it works perfectly for us...for now!